Brown won’t be flushed

Brown won’t be flushed

Editorial by David Jaques, Roseburg Beacon, 10/16/2019

Well, sadly the Recall Oregon Governor Kate Brown petition effort just got flushed! In spite of all the hard work and thousands of grass roots volunteer hours, the petition(s) came up short of the required 280,000 valid signatures needed to get the recall on the ballot.

Part of the confusion arose when the Oregon Republican Party at the last minute threw in for a competing recall drive. So even though voters were encouraged to sign both, some were afraid that if they signed one petition twice the entire page would have been thrown out.

Oregonians have never been successful in getting a recall of an elected governor on the ballot. And personally, while I totally get the frustration with the corruption of Kate Brown, and her unethical practices, she won her second term handily. And it was always my position that even IF the petition drive were successful, it was highly unlikely, if not impossible, that the same voters from Tri-County Portland metro, Salem, and Eugene that elected her the first
time, were going to change their vote

Oregonians and particularly Oregon democrats don’t mind corruption; in fact they have a very high tolerance for it. Remember John Kitzhaber and his girlfriend caught red-handed and then got away with a minor wrist slapping. And how about Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler and his Police Chief Daniele Outlaw?
They have nearly destroyed Portland and turned it over to illegals, homeless, and ANTIFA! In fact Portland is so weird they have banned urinals in the Portland Building which housed the administrative office s of city government. See my point? Yeah that’s to make them more inclusive for those who can’t tell which sex they are.

Interestingly the competing petitions may have gathered more than the required 280,000 unique signatures if combined, but we will never know. It is my firm belief that the Oregon Republican Party entry into the fray was a big mistake, if for no other reason than the effort then seemed purely partisan, sour grapes. But I think it perhaps goes even further; and that it may have been done by design to ensure defeat.

As to the ORP Chair Bill Currier announcement that they are considering a second try, that would be utter folly! I will assure you right here and now, that if they try another recall petition, they will NOT increase the number of signatures gathered, in fact they will drop to about 70% of the number of signatures they got this time.

Sadly as in any political defeat, it will take some time to get over the loss. They squandered a great deal of volunteer capital, resources and enthusiasm which might have been better placed in strengthening the field of conservative GOP candidates to win Oregon back for republicans. And to ensure that President Trump wins Oregon.Achieving those two will do a great deal more to return sanity to our state than running another sore loser recall campaign.

Please, no hate mail. I get why the recall had a strong legitimate appeal. I signed both petitions. But it wasn’t enough, and it won’t be next time. Let’s move on. We cannot afford to waste any time, money, or energy trying to go backwards.

The leadership in the Oregon Republican Party apparently still doesn’t get it yet. There is even talk about dragging Knute back from California, to run for Secretary of State. That was put forth by Bill Post, the perennial moderate in the Oregon legislature. He thinks the never Knute crowd will come to see the wisdom of electing a Democrat dressed up as a Republican. IT WON’T HAPPEN! Knute caused us to lose the Governor’s chair when he conspired
with the Wooldridge campaign and split the conservative vote gaining him the nomination and handing the election to Brown.

Oregon Republicans will not elect a moderate, period. Let me be clear where I am. I will never vote for Knute Buehler, period. He opposes my President, and everything this party stands for.

So this is our time for the grass roots, Tea Party, conservative, Constitutional, liberty minded republicans to get things done. We must focus all of our efforts on the future, not trying to redo the past. We can and we must take this state back!